DVDizzy Forum

Posted: **Sat Sep 23, 2006 8:41 am**

Yep, early this morning, it was struck by lightning, and now, I'm without a computer. The system is getting power, and the monitor works. It's just that the computer will not boot up.

I'm using the computer at work, right now. This really sucks.

Unfortunately, I don't have an extra few hundred dollars laying around.

So, if you all could help me look for good deals, and post them in this thread, I would appreciate it. I'm looking to spend no more than $400.00, if possible, for a decent computer. I don't know how long it is going to take to save up for this. It puts kink in my plans to by a Nintendo Wii, in November, unless I hit the lottery between now and then.

I won't be on as much, for a while. I don't get to use the computer at work, for personal use, much during the week. Saturday's are my best bet, as I open the store.

So, any help would be appreciated in looking for great deals.

Posted: **Sat Sep 23, 2006 8:54 am**

Eww, that's gotta suck. I'd go plum cwazee.

You might find some good deals on Dell.com. I bought a laptop from them (it was over $400), but I think they might have some desktop computers for $400 or less.

Posted: **Sat Sep 23, 2006 9:45 am**

yep i was going say dell.com too I get all my pcs and laptops from them good prices ... and you can open a Dell Preferred account and pay monthly ...

edited to say Sorry about your Computer that sucks ;(

Posted: **Sat Sep 23, 2006 9:51 am**

Dimension C521
Date & Time: September 23,2006 10:48 AM CST

SYSTEM COMPONENTS
Dimension C521 Qty 1
AMD Sempron™ 3400+, Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition Unit Price $359.00
Catalog Number: 4 BDCW1HZ
Module Description Show Details
Processor AMD Sempron™ 3400+
Operating System Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition
Memory 512MB Single Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz - 1DIMM
Keyboard Dell USB Keyboard
Monitors 17 inch E773 (16 inch viewable) Conventional CRT
Video Cards NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE Integrated Graphics GPU
Hard Drives 80GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
Floppy Drive and Media Reader No Floppy Drive Included
Mouse Dell® 2-button USB mouse
Network Interface Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
Modem No Modem Requested
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 7.0
CD or DVD Drive 16X DVD-ROM Drive
Sound Cards Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
Speakers No speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system)
Office Productivity Software (Pre-Installed) No productivity suite- Includes Microsoft Works 8. DOES NOT INCLUDE MS WORD
Security Software McAfee Security Center w/VirusScan, Firewall and Privacy, 90-day trial
Digitial Music Musicmatch by Yahoo! Music - Basic music software
Digital Photography Corel Photo Album™ 6 Starter Edition - Organize and Edit your photos
Dell Service & Support Plans 1 Year On-site Economy Plan
Internet Access Service 6 Months of America Online Membership Included
Financial Software No QuickBooks package selected
Purchase Intent Purchase is not intended for resale.

TOTAL:$359.00

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

i was just playing around and found this don't know s/h and the tax and i am not sure about the processor either but look at the price with a monitor too ...

good luck just call them and give them your spending budget or go to the site and play around with the specs etc ...

Posted: **Sat Sep 23, 2006 1:57 pm**

Aw that sucks. I hope you can get a new computer soon, and that you do indeed win the lottery so that you can buy yourself a Wii

.

Posted: **Sat Sep 23, 2006 2:03 pm**

Thanks for the suggestions. I am still so upset by this. I'm still at work. I'm getting ready to go home, in an hour and a half, and it's going to suck seeing my computer sitting there, and not being able to use it. The thing that makes me even more mad is that the computer, and everything plugged into the computer, are plugged into a power surge strip. I don't understand why this happened, when I was plugged into the power surge protector.

Posted: **Sat Sep 23, 2006 9:01 pm**

You should try Bizrate.com and search 'desktop computers'
It is a real nice compare and contrast site.. i love it.

Also there is Tigerdirect.com
It is a decent computer and computer parts site.

Do you know anyone who knows computers well?
I know a little.
You may only need one or two parts... sounds like you definately need a new processor.
Maybe a motherboard.

The power supply is obviously working, I'm sure many parts are salvageable.

It might be worth investigating.

Posted: **Sat Sep 23, 2006 9:31 pm**

It could be anything. Was your DSL/Cable/etc... also plugged into the surge protector?

If the computer isn't coming on at all its probably something to do with the motherboard, ram, cpu, or something like that. Are there any beeps when you power the system on? Probably the only way to know for sure is to completely tear the computer down and add components until you find the one thats been fried.

Sorry to hear about your loss. Dell has some decent deals sometimes. If you don't need a monitor you should be able to find something for less than $400.

Posted: **Sun Sep 24, 2006 12:54 am**

First of all I’m sorry that your computer died on you.

MadonnasManOne don't you have insurance or a warranty on the computer.

Your best Bet on finding a computer at $400.00 price would be on Black Friday if you’re willing to wake up and be in line for hours.

Also why don't you get an operator to help you reboot your computer or fix it up?

Hire the Geek Squad from Best Buy that's a safe bet too.

Posted: **Sun Sep 24, 2006 2:15 am**

Sorry about your computer. Also do you use a dial up modem to get on the net or does your computer have an internal modem. If you have an internal modem I would say it fried when the lightning hit. That happened to my computer once. The power went out for a micro-second and the next thing I know when I get it back on... It says something about can not find server or connect and we had everything plugged in. So your computer might not be a total loss yet. Also in the future when there is a storm disconnect the interent and shut down the computer and disable the phone line or dsl cable from your computer. That's what I do and luckily it has not died of that since then.

Posted: **Sun Sep 24, 2006 7:36 am**

Normally, I wouldn't start with the assumption that the whole computer is "trash" - try to figure out whether it's worthwhile to have some element repaired or replaced.

Posted: **Sun Sep 24, 2006 8:52 am**

I would look for a used one in the paper... Get something that is Win 95/98/etc., but cheap (maybe around 50-100.) That way, you have a basic computer you can go online with, and you still have money for your Wii, etc...

Then start saving for a good computer, and sell the one you bought for 50-100, probably for about the same price as you paid...

Also, as others have said, have your computer checked out... It may be a small cheap part was fried, and all you have to do is replace that and you are good to go.

Posted: **Mon Sep 25, 2006 1:54 am**

Just wanted to add that this happened to me earlier this year!

I was on the computer and a loud CRACK and blackout made me jump about 5 feet out of my chair. The power came back on, and the PC worked ok (thankfully), but it had totally fried my ethernet card. (I now run my modem through the USB connection as I can't be bothered replacing it).

Posted: **Mon Sep 25, 2006 8:50 am**

This has happened several times to me. I also had the loud crack... very scary. I've always been able to get an insurance replacement.

Sorry this happened to you MM1. That really sucks. I hope you're able to get a replacement as soon as possible.

-Aaron

Posted: **Mon Sep 25, 2006 9:19 am**

Thanks, everyone, for the suggestions. I'm on the computer, at work, right now. I won't be able to stay on, long. That loud crack happened to me, too, by the way. It was freaky!

The modem is working. I've unplugged everything from the system, and everything works, except for the computer. It is getting power, because I can hear the fan, but, the power light does not come on.

I may be getting a computer sooner than I expected. Since I don't need the monitor, I've found that I can get a new computer, which is much faster, has more storage, etc, for a decent price. I'll keep you all updated, as much as I can. I miss coming to UltimateDisney.com everyday!

Posted: **Mon Sep 25, 2006 6:52 pm**

Your hard drive may be good, that way you don't lose all your stuff you had sved on it...

Posted: **Tue Sep 26, 2006 9:05 am**

I spoke with a gentleman, yesterday, at the computer repair shop that my boss takes our work computers to. I described the situation to him, and he said it could be that the power supply is shot. He said that happens in a lot of cases, and that even though the power comes on, it doesn't have enough power to boot up the system. So, I took the computer in, this morning, and they will let me know. Providing it is just the power supply, I am going to have them put in more memory, and a bigger hard drive. I'm hoping that the power supply is the issue, and it won't be a big deal. Plus, providing that my current hard drive is not damaged, they will put the information from that one into the new one.

Thanks for all the suggestions, and I'll keep you updated!

Posted: **Wed Sep 27, 2006 6:46 pm**

Thanks so much for all of the suggestions, and concern.

I finally got my computer, this evening! It was a network card that was knocked out, and was not allowing my computer to boot up. That was fairly cheap to fix.

I had them upgrade my computer, as it is a few years old. I went from a 20 GB hard drive, to an 80 GB hard drive, and they also upgraded my memory (which they said I needed to do, in order to accept a larger hard drive) from 128 mb SDRAM to 256 MB SDRAM. They also cleaned the computer up, because it had several viruses and alot of spyware. All in all, I spent $268.52 to get my computer fixed, and upgraded.

While I didn't want to spend the money, I can say I'm glad that I had them upgrade it. It now runs MUCH faster, and has a great deal of storage. So, I feel like I've gotten a new computer, in a way. It's nice to be back up, and running, better than before.

Posted: **Wed Sep 27, 2006 7:24 pm**

Glad to hear you got your computer fixed, and nothing major was damaged.

The 80 gig would have worked great with just 128 megs of RAM, but the upgrade to 256 is still completely worth it. More RAM is always a good thing.

I hope they left the 20 gig in your system though. Unless something was wrong with the drive I would have left it in and used it as a spare drive for storage.

Anyway... congrats on getting your system back up and running.

Posted: **Thu Sep 28, 2006 10:02 am**

Congratulations, and they couldn't have fixed a better computer.

DVDizzy Forum

My computer is now working!

My computer is now working!

Man that stinks....